Vesak 2569 - Meditation, Evening Chanting and a Dhamma Talk by Ajahn Kalyano 30 May 2026

Hinzugefügt: 2026-06-01

[00:34:47]Good evening. Welcome to our way program.

[00:34:52]In a moment, we'll continue with evening chanting, which you'll find on page 17 of volume one.

[00:36:44]You are for my God.

[00:37:27]He is are So cheer by Fore!

[00:38:38]Happy.

[00:39:02]So, My god.

[00:39:34]door.

[00:39:48]I adore It is God.

[00:40:38]We charge we I knew So wonderful.

[00:41:49]name.

[00:42:01]Fore Char to be done.

[00:43:25]to be on the Amen.

[00:44:13]Fore and my young Lord. Oh, dar one.

[00:45:44]Wonder.

[00:46:10]He doesn't.

[00:46:32]There was My teammates are young.

[00:47:26]What you There is wanted to welcome me.

[00:47:56]What was your go and go What was under my eating mercy.

[00:49:24]You're So Wonder She might What day to be Baby, calendar.

[00:52:36]The on page 117.

[00:53:04]We may be because there are these two extremes that should not be pursued by one who has gone forth.

[00:53:29]That is whatever is tied up to sense pleasures within the realm of sensuality.

[00:53:38]He know which is common.

[00:53:46]Go the way of the common folks.

[00:53:53]Not the way of the noble ones and pointless.

[00:54:07]Then there is whatever is tied up with selfdeprivation.

[00:54:14]to God which is painful.

[00:54:20]Not the way of the noble ones and pointless It goes without going to either of these extremes that has ultimately awaken to a middle way of practice.

[00:55:01]Giving rise to vision.

[00:55:07]making for inside leading to heighten knowing awakening And what is that middle way of practice?

[00:55:49]It is no as follows.

[00:55:58]Some right view right in right speech right action right lilihood right effort Right concentration.

[00:56:48]This is the middle way of practice.

[00:56:55]has ultimately awakened to giving rise to vision.

[00:57:07]making for inside leading to heightening awakening and he go away to Ghana.

[00:57:38]This is the noble truth of daing and death Sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair.

[00:58:20]with the dislike.

[00:58:28]Separation from the light is not attaining one's wishes in brief. The five focuses of identity because no truth of the cause of it is this craving which leads to rebirth.

[00:59:24]accompanied by delight and lust.

[00:59:32]Delighting now here now there craving for sensuality craving to become craving not to become This is the noble truth of the sensation of dao.

[01:00:18]It is the remainderless fading away and sensation of that very craving charishment letting go release without any attachment.

[01:00:55]This is a noble truth of the way of practice leading to the sensation of it is just this no They are which is as follows.

[01:01:27]Right intention right action right effort right mindfulness Right concentration may be body because in regard to things I heard of before vision arose insight arose discernment arose knowledge arose like a rose. This is the noble truth of now. This noble truth of should be completely unerstood.

[01:03:12]Now this noble truth of completely unerstood.

[01:03:38]party.

[01:03:50]Because in regard to things I've heard of before, vision arose, inside arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, light arose.

[01:04:07]This is the noble truth of the cause of cause of should be abandoned.

[01:04:36]Now this has been abandoned.

[01:04:47]Baby party because in regard to things unheard of Before vision arose inside arose discernment arose knowledge arose arose.

[01:05:29]This is the noble truth of the sensation of da.

[01:05:44]Now the sensation of da should be experienced directly.

[01:06:01]Now has been experienced directly.

[01:06:26]party because in regard to things I heard of Before vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, life arose.

[01:06:58]This is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the sensation of da.

[01:07:20]Now this way of practice leading to the sensation of should be developed Now this way of practice leading to the sensation of da has been developed.

[01:08:11]with Sultan.

[01:08:14]As long as my knowledge and understanding as it actually is of these four noble truths with their three phases and 12 Space was not entirely pure.

[01:09:05]because in this world of Mara and Brahma among mankind with its breeds and renouncings and commoners and ultimate awakening to answer perfect enlightenment which may be going But when because my knowledge and understanding as it actually is of these four noble truths with their three faces and 12 respects was indeed entirely pure.

[01:10:39]Then indeed did I claim Because in this world of das mar and brah amongst mankind with its priests and renounc kings and commoners and ultimate awakening to perfect enlightenment.

[01:11:12]knowledge and understanding arose in me.

[01:11:21]My release is unshakable.

[01:11:24]I am this is my last birth.

[01:11:36]There will be any further becoming page 31.

[01:11:51]on the sharing.

[01:12:16]Oh J.

[01:12:29]Sorry.

[01:12:41]Fore! Foreign! Foreign!

[01:13:04]So we Yes.

[01:13:39]Fore!

[01:14:03]Foreign! Foreign!

[01:14:26]Fore! Foreign! Foreign!

[01:14:36]One to one.

[01:15:51]Fore! Foreign! Foreign!

[01:16:14]Fore! Foreign! Foreign!

[01:16:25]for and blessings. Good evening to you all.

[01:16:54]As you know, we are here to uh remember particularly the Buddha, his life.

[01:17:06]The occasion is Wisaka Puja.

[01:17:10]Puja means worship or veneration.

[01:17:15]Visaka is the name given in the time of the Buddha to the moon at this time of year in May.

[01:17:27]Nowadays we have we tend to have other names for the moon. So today or tomorrow's full moon is known as a blue moon.

[01:17:38]I don't know if that's where you get the phrase once in a blue moon, but uh we have red moons, pink moons, blood moons, and many different kinds of moons. But in the time of the Buddha, it's called Saka.

[01:17:57]And the tradition is that this day is the day the full moon in May is the day that the Buddha as a bodhicatta not yet the Buddha was born.

[01:18:14]And then later on the same day the full moon in May he achieved awakening or enlightenment under the body tree.

[01:18:28]And then the same day again, full moon in May, he uh entered Parinibana, which is the proper way of saying the Buddha passed away of birth, enlightenment, and death.

[01:18:52]Sometimes people have this sense that this is just some sort of story in history and that it is not that relevant to us in this day and age.

[01:19:07]But one thing we're recollecting and you could say celebrating is the fact that the potential for enlightenment is in each one of us.

[01:19:27]It's not just something for the Buddha.

[01:19:33]And indeed, since the time of the Buddha, right up to the present day, there have been those individuals, men and women, who have become enlightened.

[01:19:47]When the Buddha was born as a bodhicatta seda Gautama, his mother had been trying to make her way back to her hometown. She she had married uh the Buddha's father.

[01:20:08]But is as was the tradition in those days in India often when a woman gave birth or before she gave birth she would go back to her mother's house to give birth there. She's quite a long way, a long walk. Or maybe she had a chariot because she was the the queen.

[01:20:28]But it was a long journey through the forest. And she didn't make it halfway between her the kingdom of the Sakians and then her hometown.

[01:20:43]She had to stop and give birth under a salad tree.

[01:20:49]And you'll see pictures of the Queen Yasodora, the Buddha's mother, grabbing a branch again in this the oldfashioned way, giving birth, standing up, grabbing a branch for to steady herself, and then some assistance helping with the baby coming out.

[01:21:15]And then an amazing thing happened. The baby walked seven steps which they say symbolize the seven factors of enlightenment. These seven qualities that anyone who becomes enlightened develops. It's mindfulness damia which means like investigation of dharma or wisdom.

[01:21:42]wearrier and persistent effort um pity rapture padi tranquility samati concentration or onepointedness of mind and then uh opa equinimity towards all conditions those seven factors are the cause for first of all the Buddha when may arise together in a human mind but first for the Buddha for the Buddha to become enlightened and and later anyone else who's become enlightened following the Buddhist path have also cultivated those seven factors seven qualities so they say symbolic the Buddha took seven steps and they say he stepped onto seven lotuses.

[01:22:45]And sometimes people think, well, first of all, they're probably astonished that a a baby, newborn baby can walk seven steps. That's already an amazing thing.

[01:22:58]And then to step onto seven lotuses.

[01:23:02]People often doubt, they think, oh, where did seven lotuses come from?

[01:23:08]I remember once I was camping in the jungle in Thailand, southern Thailand, and some hunters came by and they wanted to speak to a monk. So, they came to me. This was just in the jungle. I was camping. I wasn't in a monastery.

[01:23:29]And even though they were hunters, they still had faith in the Buddha and his teachings. And they came and they were very excited.

[01:23:38]They said they want to tell among what they saw and they've been hunting in up in the mountain.

[01:23:45]Obviously trying to kill animals not so good. But in the course of walking through the jungle they had come across an area where there were these huge lotus flowers.

[01:23:58]Um a bit like the ones you can go and see at the lotus farm down the road from here. If you go in the right season, you'll see these big lotuses that have huge leaves on the water.

[01:24:12]And they they often have a picture of a baby lying on one of these lotus leaves.

[01:24:19]And these hunters had found lotuses with big leaves like that. And they came and they said that one of them was saying, "Oh, now I understand how it can be possible. or a lotus could be there and a baby could step onto it because they saw some naturally growing lotuses like that and they said from this day on I really have faith in the Buddha.

[01:24:45]Don't know if there was enough faith for them to give up hunting but that's what I told them they should do.

[01:24:54]So the Buddha or the bodhis sat for the Buddha to be walked seven steps on these seven lotuses and then declared I am the chief the leader of the world I am the foremost in the world meaning that he is the body sappa and he's going to get enlightened in this life. This is going to be my last life.

[01:25:26]And he went on to say, "This will be my last life. I will go beyond the round of birth and death. I will gain victory over mara."

[01:25:36]Mara means everything that obstructs us from doing good and from becoming enlightened.

[01:25:43]So he made these declarations.

[01:25:45]Another amazing thing. A baby who can walk and speak.

[01:25:52]But they say the bodhic sappa in his mother's womb was perfectly mindful from when he entered the womb. His consciousness entered the embryo till the moment he was born and then after he was perfectly mindful.

[01:26:09]Therefore could remember and speak, remember his past life, remember language.

[01:26:19]Of course, he still went on after that to go through a fairly normal childhood growing up, but he was the son of a king or a leader.

[01:26:31]So, he had every kind of comfort that they had in those days.

[01:26:38]And one of the things the king his father tried to do was to stop him from having any kind of suffering and discomfort in his life because he didn't want that. He knew that that would trigger an interest in the spiritual life. Pursuing the dharma was what makes us practice dhamma is suffering and the wish to get out of suffering. So he didn't want his son to suffer in any way. So made sure his son always had the best food, best clothes, best teachers, best friends, best everything, best entertainments, best sports to try and keep him far away from suffering.

[01:27:24]Basically what we all do these days, everybody wants the best and we try to minimize suffering. So we're all like little body suffers these days.

[01:27:37]If you got any stress in your life, get on your phone, Google something, scroll something, and you get away from your stress at least for a little while.

[01:27:49]That's what we do these days. Look for the the comfort, the things that will make us feel good, the friends, the people around us, the technology, furniture.

[01:28:05]We want to master nature. We don't want any disease, any pain, discomfort, any problems.

[01:28:12]That's our goal.

[01:28:14]So most people in the world aspire to have so much money that they don't have to face any problems even though it's impossible, but that's how we think.

[01:28:25]But the Buddha also had that his good fortune, good karma from many lives of doing good as a bodhic sappa.

[01:28:34]He was brought up in comfort, peace, happiness.

[01:28:39]But because of his in innate wisdom and this strong motivating force being a body suffer as he grew up, he did notice suffering.

[01:28:51]Not so much his own. He didn't have much suffering himself but in the people around him especially when he left the confines of his sort of palace or the equivalent of a palace in those days he went walking in the town and anyone who's been to India these days less so the these days it's developing very fast and very there's a lot of wealth and comfort in India now but still there are those places particular where in the poorer parts of India, rural India and actually particularly where the Buddha grew up and practiced still remains of poor part of India.

[01:29:35]You can see people suffer a lot. Not not much wealth, money.

[01:29:44]A lot of people have these kind of simple houses that are never finished.

[01:29:49]If you travel there, there's always a house without a roof on it or without a wall or without furniture.

[01:29:55]Very simple houses, maybe no electricity, maybe no toilet or sanitation or running water. Sometimes very simple lifestyle for many people. A lot of poverty, a lot of difficulty facing illness, health care is not so great.

[01:30:22]As you know, sometimes a lot of beggars on the street, a lot less than they used to be, but they're still there.

[01:30:30]So, the Buddha encountered all this.

[01:30:32]They saw people who were sick, people who were getting old. Even in wealthy countries or poor countries, you know, everyone gets old. You can't escape that. Nobody likes getting old. And the Buddha saw old people and he was shocked when he was still a bodhic sappa because he'd been shielded from that. He's always surrounded by young healthy people.

[01:31:00]A bit like us when we Google or scroll or look for things on our computers and the phone. You know, you're always looking for young, beautiful, attractive people, aren't you? Not looking for old sick people.

[01:31:18]Unless you're sick and then you just want to find the cure.

[01:31:22]No different. So the Buddha was shocked when he saw sick people, old people walking along with no teeth and bent backs with walking stick, shriveled skin, wrinkles, white hair or no hair.

[01:31:40]And that did stimulate the thought life is still full of suffering. You can't escape it. What is the escape from suffering?

[01:31:50]And ultimately that thought took him out of his comfort to the forest to the jungle to practice meditation.

[01:32:00]And after six years, you might say, six years of slight uh I took a wrong turn and was pursuing the practices of the day, developing deep states of samati, janna, but also pursuing the aesthetic practices, what we call self deprivation, going without food and sleep and sitting for long periods without moving and holding his breath and all kinds of difficult practices which he was very good at even better than anyone else in his day.

[01:32:39]He still felt he hadn't found the way out of suffering. And that's what led him to sit under the body tree on the night of his enlightenment.

[01:32:51]And that's where he finally discovered the area such done by the four noble truths realized them cultivated in effect the eight-fold noble path brought that to perfection sila samati and pa and had his awakening experience but that's what he was pointing to or mentioning when he was born straight away he said I'm the leader because he knew that's what was coming and he had that potential in him and actually we all do it's just we're not so confident we still have too many excuses so if you were to sit there and say I will get enlightened this life you probably already start laughing at yourself because you know all your weaknesses and all your attachments and your limitations.

[01:33:57]Well, you got to start somewhere. You got to start realizing you do have that potential in you. However long it will take.

[01:34:07]As my teacher Aenta used to say, it doesn't matter how long it takes.

[01:34:12]As long as you're practicing correctly, following the path that the Buddha taught, you'll get there. If you don't stop, you'll get there. Whether it's this life or in a future life, the important thing is not to give up, not to stop. You will get there because you have the potential in you.

[01:34:32]Everything else is just to use a modern word smoke and screens, excuses, diversions, views and opinions, uh wrong thinking and so on and so on. As we know you when it comes time to meditation to meditate we've always got a good excuse why we shouldn't.

[01:34:59]Whether it's meditation, listening to the dharma, or even sometimes just keeping precepts.

[01:35:06]We don't want to keep precepts because it's convenient not to.

[01:35:14]But actually, the potential for the whole of the Buddhist path we already have within us. So, we got everything we need because we've been born as human beings. And that's what the Buddha was pointing to. So it's we say the full moon day in May we saka is a day of great hope for the world because it's the Buddha saying everyone can do this. There's no excuses, no ultimate blockages.

[01:35:48]Of course, when we do take wrong turns and we do things in not very skillful ways, then of course we slow ourselves down and we put a lot of obstacles in our way.

[01:36:01]So some people take longer than others, but we we've all got the opportunity to practice and become enlightened like the Buddha.

[01:36:16]As he sat under the body tree, what did he do first? He said he sat and he recollected remembered when he was a kid because the Buddha was born as already a body sata meaning for many many lifetimes thousands of lifetimes millions of lifetimes he's been we say making barami practicing doing good learning to meditate reflect on the dharma help people teach people lead people support people For many many lifetimes he'd been doing that. So he was born with all these good qualities already kind of stored up in his consciousness. Although he wasn't yet enlightened but he had many good qualities.

[01:37:08]So he remembered that when he was sitting under the body tree he remembered that when he was about seven he sat under the rose apple tree different kind of tree. while his father the king did a ceremony which is what kings and queens do. They do ceremonies for the good of everyone. So in that culture they would do the plowing ceremony at the beginning of the growing season with the hope of it'll be a good year crops because everyone depended on their crops.

[01:37:43]involves maybe making some sacrifices to deities, asking for the deities to help you bring the rain, bring good conditions for the farming. There's a ceremony. But when you're seven years old, you're not that interested.

[01:38:02]So the Buddha was a bit bored with the ceremony or the bodhicatta was bored with the ceremony. So he went and sat down under this tree. They say the power of his good karma and his previous practice meant that as he was sitting there his mind just naturally went quiet into samadi.

[01:38:23]It wasn't that he sat down and said, "Oh, today I'm going to sit meditation."

[01:38:27]It just happened naturally because he'd done it before.

[01:38:31]His ma mind converged and entered first Janna. They say he sat under the tree in the shade.

[01:38:42]When he was under the bodhic tree the night of his enlightenment, he remembered that. He remembered the happiness of just relaxing and going into samati, letting go of everything.

[01:38:53]Sometimes for kids, it's easier to let go because they haven't built up so many attachments, not so many worries in life, not so many bills to pay, not so many grudges, not so many things that make us suffer.

[01:39:09]When you're a kid, you you got less of that. don't have the weight of a mortgage on your heart.

[01:39:17]You maybe haven't yet split up with your partner. So when you're a kid, you have a lot perhaps a lot less stress, less suffering.

[01:39:29]So the Buddha remembered the the happy heart sitting under the rose apple tree.

[01:39:35]So he developed that same meditation mindfulness of breathing as he sat under the tree and became very still, quiet, peaceful.

[01:39:46]And the night of his enlightenment, he started there.

[01:39:50]And as he meditated, he became so peaceful. He went even deeper into his samati than the first jani. He went all the way to fourth janna. an even deeper state of stillness, equinimity and he had a great um experience. He had this knowledge.

[01:40:13]He could uh recollect his past lives.

[01:40:19]He could recollect his past lives. He could recollect the past lives of other people if he turned his mind to contemplate that. Not just one life, not just 10 lives, but thousands and thousands and thousands, as many previous lives as he chose to recollect, he could.

[01:40:41]So he knew that he had been previously born in a in different realms as well. Not always a human, sometimes an animal.

[01:40:53]He'd been in hell realms, heaven realms, ghost realms. So he had a an understanding that there are these different realms of existence. And he'd been through them all many, many, many times.

[01:41:10]None of them were permanent.

[01:41:12]So he could know for sure. There's no permanent heaven or permanent hell as many teachers would teach in those days.

[01:41:25]And then the second knowledge he gained was the knowledge of karma.

[01:41:31]What leads people to be reborn in different realms when they die. The karma, the causes and conditions that lead to that good karma, bad karma.

[01:41:48]And then reflecting on he went further to see that really life is you might say a set of causes and conditions.

[01:41:59]He was looking particularly to see if there's any kind of soul or what we call a self or a soul in experience and he couldn't find it.

[01:42:15]All phenomena, physical phenomena, mental phenomena. So that includes this body and mind are nonself. They're not a self. There's no like nothing that just exists by itself in the world.

[01:42:31]No kind of everlasting soul.

[01:42:36]He said really as human beings we're we are created through causes and conditions or we tend to say karma but it's causes and conditions.

[01:42:48]Even what eventually became his enlightenment experience nibana arises out of causes and conditions.

[01:42:57]the noble eight-fold path realization of the four noble truths because most people in the world had more extreme views at that time say in India most people believed in Maha Brahma God everything is God's will God is in charge god creates the world whatever happens good or bad depends on Maha Brahma So they're all worshiping Maha Brahma.

[01:43:31]Or some people had the view that nothing matters. It's all random. Things just happen by themselves and there's nothing you can do.

[01:43:43]Or some people believed in karma but not quite in the way the Buddha would later teach that karma happens and we make karma good and bad but then it's fixed and there's nothing you can do about it once it's fixed which if you think about it if everything was fixed there would be no chance for enlightenment to escape from karma or from nibana if if everything is fixed kind of you're born into your lot. It's the basis for the cast system in many areas of the world where you're just born into a certain cast and there's nothing you can do about it and you just keep kind of coming back to the same things because it's your destiny.

[01:44:34]All of this the Buddha dismissed and said actually everything ultimately is dependent on causes and conditions.

[01:44:41]But that gives us a chance to practice because you can change or influence causes and conditions.

[01:44:48]Of course, people always say, well, who influences? Well, that's just, you might say, wisdom. When when you understand how everything is arising through causes and conditions, well, you can influence that process for your benefit. That's what the noble eight-fold path is. creating good causes that ultimately lead to your progress, your happiness, ultimately lead to nibbana.

[01:45:18]So this kind of enlightenment experience and this wisdom that the Buddha gained on that night is something no one else had had, no one else could explain, nobody else fully understood like the Buddha.

[01:45:31]And he actually thought that understanding the causal process by which suffering arises, how we're born, how we die, he thought perhaps people wouldn't understand it. So at first he didn't even think he would teach. Thought he'd sit and enjoy his enlightenment under the bodhic tree.

[01:45:54]Why not?

[01:45:55]Completely free, peaceful, happy. Well, what more do you want? And why do you have to get tired going teaching people who may not understand? He thought he'd just sit there and enjoy enlightenment.

[01:46:10]But later Brahma Sahampati who was an old friend of the Buddha from previous lives. Now a deity came and invited him to teach just as earlier Peter invited me to teach using the same formula or verse they say from the time when sah braati invited the Buddha to teach said there are people deluded people but with little dust in their eyes so that's Another moment of hope, good news. We have little dust in our eyes. That's why we're here.

[01:46:57]Maybe it's also because the the monks did a good cleaning job on the hall. So, there's little dust in the hall, but it really means little dust in your eyes, meaning you have some delusion, but not so much that you can't practice the dharma.

[01:47:14]You have little dust in your eyes.

[01:47:16]Hearing the dhamma can help you show you the way to practice more to progress to find happiness because people have little dust in their eyes because there are those people in the world then we can practice.

[01:47:35]So the Buddha ultimately eventually he did start to teach. He wandered all the way to Sarinath where his original five companions, the five aesthetics were practicing still in their same old way. They're kind of stuck in that. Although they're very advanced in their meditation, they're kind of stuck in their view. But he thought they could realize the dumbness.

[01:48:00]So he walked all the way there. The teacher walked to the students. Normally the student should walk to the teacher.

[01:48:08]This is the compassion of the Buddha. He walked all the way and went and taught them. And we just chanted the dharmacha poet suta tonight.

[01:48:16]That was his first teaching.

[01:48:19]Teaching about the four noble truths where suffering comes from. What are the causes for suffering? Craving, attachment.

[01:48:28]But how can we bring suffering to its sessation to its end or cultivating the noble eightfold path?

[01:48:36]Recognizing craving for what it is.

[01:48:39]attachment for what it is and then letting go.

[01:48:43]So we get this abbreviation of the teaching letting go. So nowadays we like to say that because you know it seems like a shortcut. You say people ask what do you do to practice the dharma or you just let go and quite often that's a correct answer quite a correct teaching but you know letting go is something you have to practice and learn about and develop it's a skill you just say let go maybe you let go of the wrong things and some people do that they say I'm letting go and they let go of the Buddha the dharma the sana They let go of goodness and they do a lot of bad things. There's another kind of letting go, but you might call it wrong letting go.

[01:49:32]Or like one man I met before I was a monk.

[01:49:37]He said where he was on a beach and he said, "What are you into? What are you up to?" I said, "Oh, I'm going to a monastery to become a monk." Because I already had that plan.

[01:49:48]He said, "What do monks do?" I said, "Oh, well, the teacher I'm going to see, he he teaches letting go." The man lying on his back in the sun say, "I'm letting go."

[01:49:59]And he carried on lying on his back.

[01:50:02]Maybe he's still there today. I don't know.

[01:50:06]But just lying on your back in the sun, you you may be quite relaxed and chilled and that's good, but you probably can't let go of the deeper craving and attachment. You need to do a bit more than that.

[01:50:18]So there's many kinds of letting go, but the letting go that arises from the Buddhist path that the Buddha taught and practiced is the noble eightful path.

[01:50:27]You bring in your mind to really understand the difference between the wholesome and the unh wholesome first, which is how the Buddha practice.

[01:50:38]You got to understand the difference between wholesome or skillful karma and unh wholesome unskillful karma and really focus your mind on that.

[01:50:48]Because even as you contemplate karma, you sometimes think you're making good karma when you may be actually making bad karma.

[01:51:00]You have to understand the difference between good and bad karma. Good karma is rooted in non- greed, non- anger, nond delusion.

[01:51:11]Bad karma is rooted in greed, anger and delusion.

[01:51:15]You have to learn how to separate that out through our practice, which is why we practice mindfulness and listen to the dharma and contemplate the dharma.

[01:51:24]So you get better at understanding the difference because this mind is very quick to throw up bad karma or greed, anger and delusion.

[01:51:38]It's all automatic out of habit. We've been greedy before, so we're greedy again. We become attached before, so we attach again.

[01:51:48]We have all kinds of worries and stress because we've done it before. or we fall into those habits over and over again.

[01:51:56]We've been angry before, so we get angry again.

[01:52:01]So used to say, you practicing what the Buddha taught is like rowing a boat upstream.

[01:52:10]When you go upstream, you're going against the flow of the water. It's hard work because the the water is flowing downream towards you all the time. So if you have a canoe or rowing boat like they have on the Arrow River here, you're working hard to go upstream going against the flow of the water. That's like someone practicing the Buddhist path because the flow of your mind is always following greed, anger, and delusion.

[01:52:38]We do the easiest thing. We do what our mind wants to do according to our moods.

[01:52:44]We follow our moods.

[01:52:50]But the Buddhist practice is the path of the dharma which means not just giving into your moods, not just giving up, giving in means going against.

[01:53:02]Greed may arise but you don't follow it.

[01:53:05]Anger may arise but you don't follow it.

[01:53:08]Delusion may arise but you don't follow it.

[01:53:13]That's why it's quite hard to meditate.

[01:53:15]You're learning to be still, mindful.

[01:53:21]Pay attention to your own mind.

[01:53:24]It's hard work because your mind loves to seek distraction, follows attachment.

[01:53:31]Someone was asking this morning, they say, "Oh, it's hard to meditate. One moment you're peaceful, the next moment you're not peaceful.

[01:53:40]When you're peaceful, you can do anything, can't you? Because you're peaceful. You feel easy, feel good.

[01:53:47]When you're not peaceful, everything is difficult.

[01:53:52]When you're not particularly peaceful, even eating your favorite food can be hard work.

[01:53:58]Talking can be hard. When when you're not peaceful, it's hard to talk to someone.

[01:54:04]You get irritated. You don't want to have anything to do with anyone. It's hard to work when you're not peaceful.

[01:54:12]You don't want to focus your mind, concentrate on anything. Don't want to do anything.

[01:54:18]We just want to kind of disappear when we're not peaceful.

[01:54:22]When you're peaceful, you can do anything because your mind is in very positive state.

[01:54:28]But you get both. And when you meditate, you'll find that sometimes you're peaceful, sometimes not.

[01:54:35]So one of the things Ajenta taught and this comes also directly from the Buddha. If you want to practice and realize this potential for enlightenment, have to learn how to keep doing it whether you're peaceful or not. Not to follow your moods, but to keep practicing, to be patient and keep working with your mind, until you've mastered your mind, like the Buddha, like the arahands.

[01:55:05]The best practice is continuous practice.

[01:55:09]Whether you feel like doing it or not, doesn't matter. You just do it anyway on every level. So on the level of generosity, you know, sometimes we want to be generous. Sometimes we don't. But doing it anyway, keeping precepts. Sometimes we want to keep the precepts, sometimes we can't be bothered, don't want to, don't care, but we do it anyway. Whatever we're feeling like, we still do it.

[01:55:35]Sometimes we want to meditate, sometimes we don't. But you keep doing it.

[01:55:42]Every aspect of the dharma practice is like that. We learn how to practice continuously, regularly, frequently.

[01:55:50]Then you got a chance to grow and improve.

[01:55:57]So this is what or one of the important factors that the Buddha said would lead to your enlightenment. You have the potential for enlightenment in you, but you have to nurture it and bring it up through regular continuous practice.

[01:56:18]If your practice is mainly just on ways, you go to the temple, make an offering, listen to a talk, do some meditation and chanting, and then that's it for another year.

[01:56:33]Well, you can do that, but it's going to be a slow, hard journey to Nibana.

[01:56:40]I mean, say you live for 75 years, and who knows how long you live. 75 waxs.

[01:56:48]That's good. But, you know, you could do better than that.

[01:56:52]Could be, you know, a little bit more enthusiastic, a little bit try a bit harder.

[01:57:00]You could make every day a ways.

[01:57:03]Remember the Buddha every day.

[01:57:07]Commit to keeping precepts every day.

[01:57:10]Practice some generosity every day.

[01:57:13]Meditate every day. Chant. Listen to the dharma every day. If you want, you can make every day a way.

[01:57:23]If you think in this way, this is why we have a Buddhist statue and we chant, we meditate, we learn how to do the good practice every day.

[01:57:36]So every day is like a way, like a birthday. You know, every day is your birthday. Every day is the Buddha's birthday in that sense.

[01:57:53]So maybe I'll uh leave you with these words of encouragement to make every day with sakapuja or wayak make your practice into you some an offering to the Buddha to your parents to your family to your friends to the world to the people around you. The more of us who do that the better the world is going to be.

[01:58:22]So I'll leave the talk there and in a moment we'll do a procession around the hall.

[01:58:54]So, you've all been very patient, very good.

[01:58:58]Um, we have some flowers, electric candles, not real candles, and incense for you. And there'll be some people coming around to help distribute them now. And then later we'll walk around the hall.

[02:00:36]Do we have electric candle for me?

[02:00:58]can get some more from over there. So, tonight is a blue moon, so you can put a blue light on if you want.

[02:01:43]Remember last time Someone.

[02:03:10]In a moment I'll lead you in reciting the verse remembering weak or sakapucha and then invite you all to go outside and gather in front of the Buddha statue outside and uh we'll walk around the hall. If it starts to rain, we'll go on the vera. If it's not raining, we'll walk around the outside.

[02:04:12]would Young Buddha.

[02:05:24]All of us >> all of us >> take the Buddha as our refuge.

[02:05:30]>> Take the Buddha >> and we delight in the Dharma.

[02:05:37]that he taught >> that he >> the Buddha was born >> among the Aryan people >> among the people >> in the Ganges Valley >> in the G >> in India >> in India >> a warrior by cast >> a warrior >> of the Gota clan >> of the clan >> and Son of the Sakian people.

[02:06:07]>> and son of the Sak people.

[02:06:10]>> He went forth.

[02:06:12]>> He went forth >> from home into homelessness.

[02:06:18]>> And attained full and complete enlightenment.

[02:06:25]>> Enlightenment >> in this world. in this world >> with its das >> with its >> its maras >> it mar >> and brahmas >> and >> this multitude >> this multitude >> with its summoners >> with it summoners >> and brahmins >> and >> together with its rulers and ordinary people >> together >> he is an arahan >> he is Fully enlightened by himself.

[02:07:01]>> Fully enlightened by himself.

[02:07:04]>> Impeccable in conduct and understanding.

[02:07:11]>> An accomplished one.

[02:07:13]>> An accomplished one.

[02:07:15]>> Noah of the worlds.

[02:07:16]>> Noah of the worlds.

[02:07:18]>> Incomparable teacher.

[02:07:20]>> Incomparable.

[02:07:22]>> Of those who wish to be trained.

[02:07:27]awakened >> awakened >> and holy >> and holy.

[02:07:33]>> Furthermore, the dharma that he expounded >> so well >> so well >> can be seen here and now >> can be seen here and now.

[02:07:46]>> Not delayed in time.

[02:07:49]>> Not delayed in time.

[02:07:51]>> Inviting one to come and see.

[02:07:56]leading inwards >> leading inwards >> to be known by each wise person for themsself.

[02:08:07]The SA of the blessed ones >> has practiced well >> has practiced well >> practiced directly >> practiced well >> practiced insightfully >> practiced insightfully >> and practiced with integrity >> and and practiced integrity >> the four pairs >> the four pairs >> the eight kinds of noble beings >> the eight kinds are the blessed ones disciples.

[02:08:36]>> are the blessed ones.

[02:08:38]>> Such ones are worthy of gifts.

[02:08:41]>> Such ones are worthy of >> worthy of hospitality.

[02:08:45]>> Worthy of >> worthy of offerings.

[02:08:49]>> Worthy of >> worthy of respect.

[02:08:52]>> Worthy of respect.

[02:08:54]>> They give occasion for >> They give occasion offerings >> incomparable goodness to arise in the world.

[02:09:08]This Buddha statue >> gives us inspiration to follow him.

[02:09:18]>> Now we have arrived at the full moon.

[02:09:21]>> Now we arrived at the full moon >> in the month of Wisaka.

[02:09:28]which we know to be >> which we know to be. The day when the Lord >> The day when the Lord >> was born >> was born >> attained enlightenment >> attained enlightenment >> and passed into Parinibana >> and passed into >> and gathering here >> and >> on this occasion >> on this occasion >> with these offerings >> with these offerings >> recollecting the virtues >> reccting the virtues >> of the Lord Buddha We shall circumambulate >> we shall circumulate >> the Buddha image >> the image >> three times >> three times >> although he passed into nibbana >> although >> long ago >> long ago >> the Buddha's guiding influence >> the Buddha's influence >> is still with us today >> is still with us today >> may our offerings be received received >> received >> and accepted >> and accepted >> for our longlasting welfare >> and for the happiness >> and >> of all future generations >> of all future generations.

[02:10:51]>> Please uh bow three times and then make your way out to the front of the hall.

[02:11:48]Let's go.

[02:12:13]Glor.

[02:12:51]Go. Oh my god.

[02:13:22]Go.

[02:13:31]But you Happy Oh God, how we know he Oh Oh god.

[02:15:34]Go.

[02:15:43]Glory.

[02:16:09]Angel.

[02:16:36]So God told the Lord how we do My son is go. Oh god.

[02:17:42]Go.

[02:17:52]Gloro and around God. Oh Lord knowing Oh, you Would you know what?

[02:20:05]You Happy Oh God of the Lord glory go.

[02:21:26]Oh god.

[02:21:51]Go.

[02:22:20]Hey. Fore the peace of would go for the Oh god.

[02:23:47]Now what is going to go Glorio.

[02:24:45]around.

[02:25:10]God of the Lord Oh god.

[02:26:17]me. She is Your Mayo.

[02:27:18]to God. Oh Lord, how we know I Oh, you So you know what I'm going So in a moment we'll pay respects to the Buddha Damama Sana and then take a break.

[02:32:56]Happy day.

[02:33:02]So mommy. Mommy.